The Life Peerages Act 1958 (6 & 7 Eliz. 2. c. 21) established the modern standards for the creation of life peers by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom.
Background
This act was passed during the Conservative governments of 1957–1964, when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. Elizabeth II had ascended to the throne just over five years before the act. The Conservatives tried to introduce life peerages to modernise the House of Lords, give it more legitimacy, and respond to a decline in its numbers and attendance.
Passage
The Life Peerages Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 21 November 1957, and its second reading took place on 3 and 5 December 1957. Committee stage was taken on 17 and 18 December 1957. The bill was reported without amendment and given a third reading on 30 January 1958.
In the Commons, the second reading took place on 12 and 13 February 1958. The second reading debate was lengthy; the first day of second reading saw 21 speeches and 29 interruptions, while the second day contained 18 speeches, with 46 interruptions.
A life peer is created by the sovereign by letters patent under the Great Seal on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Before the act was enacted, former prime ministers were usually created hereditary viscounts or earls in recognition of their public service in high office, as were the Viceroys of India and exceptional military or front bench figures, for example the former Secretary of State for India and earlier for Air, Viscount Stansgate, and retired Speakers of the House of Commons. The last prime minister and the last non-royal to be created an earl was coincidentally one of the 1958 act's proponents, Harold Macmillan, on Margaret Thatcher's advice, in the 1980s. Since her time, only members of the Royal Family have been granted new hereditary peerages. In 2023, Prince Edward, already hereditary Earl of Wessex and Forfar, was made Duke of Edinburgh for life, though not under the act.
Historic approval and 1999 adjustment of House composition
In 1999, during the debate which secured the removal of the constitutional functions of most hereditary peers, the Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Geoff Hoon stated:
After this agreed with a question from fellow Labour MP, Mark Fisher which stated: